Friends of Palestine Rally - 31 Jan 09

Friends of Palestine Rally
12 noon - Sat 31 January
Forrest Place, Perth

Organised by Friends of Palestine


See also: "Protest works!" (From Friends of Palestine website)

Dear friends of Palestine

If any of you are feeling dispirited or demoralised about the fact we haven't yet shifted the Australian government's position vis-a-vis the Palestinian struggle for self-determination, never forget history teaches us again and again popular protest action does work. Below are some contemporary examples.

After facing pressure from the very large and fiercely determined local Palestinian solidarity movement, the management of the Grand Intercontinental Hotel in Paris decided to cancel the Israeli Tourism Fair that was due to be held at the hotel on January 15th. All 50 Israeli exhibitors were accordingly disinvited and told the Fair would not be going ahead! Click on the link below for more information:-

http://justwondering-chet.blogspot.com/2009/01/grand-hotel-intercontinental-paris.html

Some of you may already have heard about the 3000-ton arms shipment to Israel the Pentagon was trying to route through Greece. What you may not have heard is the Greek government, again under extreme pressure from a very strong, large and determined local Palestinian solidarity movement, was forced to deny the Pentagon use of its ports to facilitate the shipment, meaning the US department of war now has to go through the humiliating process of looking for alternative means to get the deadly arsenal to their favourite ally! Click on the link below from the Reuters news service for a bundle of articles about this magnificent victory for the international Palestinian solidarity movement:-

http://search.us.reuters.com/rsearch/rcomSearch.do?blob=greece%20arms%20shipment%20Israel&WTmodLoc=ussrch-top-quote


The third example comes from another country with a very strong and well-established Palestinian solidarity movement, Britain. Currently there are 17 university occupations taking place throughout the country in solidarity with Gaza. A number of the student occupations have already claimed victory. For example, the Oxford students who occupied the Clarendon building declared victory after seven hours, having forced the University administration to accede to a number of their demands! For more on the student occupations in Britain, go to the following link:-

http://lseoccupation.blogspot.com/

These are just three examples of many. The lesson: protest action really does work. Hence the need for us to congregate in large numbers at our next demonstration this Saturday at midday in Forrest Place. See you all there more determined and confident than ever.

Fraternally
Alex Whisson
Friends of Palestine WA
www.fopwa.org